Hi,
Kind of an open question; how can all the good people gain some experience with computer forensics? I know there is a lot of good training material out there but how can you gain real world experience, particularly if you've no previous field experience or already have a part/full-time job?

Are there opportunities to gain work experience by volunteering with law enforcement or private companies? There are lots of people here who would be interested to share your experiences.

Jimbob

I think that BillV is on to something there.   I always say that learning the technical aspect is quite easy.   However, investigative skills are tougher to teach.  If you can get attached to an experienced investigator, you will learn more than you can pick up from books and certifications.   The grunt work you would be doing is documentation, chain of custody, etc.  Learning proper procedures and documentation is extremely important.  It will save you on the stand someday.   

I think that if you want to get your foot in the door, you have to be prepared to relocate.   Most forensics jobs are in NYC and DC.   DC has most of the government jobs, NYC has most of the consulting companies.   There are other markets, but they are not as saturated.

Most of my clients are lawyers.  They tend to favor established relationships and word of mouth advertising.  From my experience, its difficult to get your foot in the door.  Once you are in, you are in until you screw up .   

You also don't want to offer forensic services without proper experience to back it up.  Not only will you lack investigative skills and procedural knowledge, you will get killed on the stand.   Word gets around fast in the forensics community and you won't keep your job for long.

Just bringing this thread back from the dead.


I am also new to the CF world and am still in school.  About to start my second CF course at Devry in a few days.

But a few months ago I was having one of those nights where I was doing nothing and just googled Computer Forensics in Denver, since I live here. 

Anyways found a few and I mean maybe like 3 sites and then went to their links and found a few more.  I emailed all of them asking for internships.

Nobody responded........Until a few days later.  I got a phone call which I had included my cell in the email. 

Anyways long story short I got a internship to hire for a local company 1 of 3 CF companies in the state.  Have not started yet.  But what he wants me to do is do like a part time contracting thing.  I guess.  I figure I won't be working on any real cases but it's a paid intern.

The thing is I can't leave me full time job that I have until he is ready to pay me what I make currently and also give me benefits.  I have a crazy good job that pays enough (maybe not enough but ok)  but they pay for all my benefits. 

I am just fortunate enough to find a guy willing to train me locally cause I was for sure  I was moving somewhere else.

So my suggestion is to email people whenever possible about interns.